WEEK 45 [DANIEL 1-6]

“There Is No Other God That Can Deliver”

October 31 – November 6

CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST DISCLAIMER: This podcast represents my own thoughts and opinions. It is not made, approved or endorsed by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Any content or creative interpretations, implied or included are solely those of Maria Eckersley ("MeckMom LLC"), and not those of Intellectual Reserve, Inc. or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Great care has been made to ensure this podcast is in harmony with the overall mission of the Church. Click here to visit the official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Welcome back everybody.

This is week 45 of Creative.

Come Follow me for the Old Testament and this week we get

to enjoy the book of Daniel, and trust me, you're gonna enjoy it.

, we have six chapters.

It's not that hard to cover.

It's also a lot of familiar stories.

So if your kids have been missing the story component of the old Testa,

Daniel's gonna bring it back strong.

These are gonna be familiar to you, but I promise you that as you dive a little bit

deeper, you're gonna find hidden treasures that you didn't even know were there.

That's what my week has been filled with and I just can't wait

to teach you the book of Daniel.

Here are a few things that you'll wanna know as you head in.

So Daniel is in part of that initial.

Exile into Babylon so that the siege of Jerusalem actually

covers about 20 years of time.

And so when Babylon captures Jerusalem, they take people away in waves.

Daniel's in that very first wave, at least we think that, um, what the

king does is he wants to kind of.

Pillage those who can contribute to Babylonian society.

So Daniel is likely somewhere in a noble family, at least that's what the Bible

Bible dictionary teaches that he is from some kind of nobility and he's incredibly

bright and talented, and he and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

those are their Babylonian names.

What you're gonna learn about that in a minute, but they all get

carried off and going to Babylon.

What's powerful to me about their story is that they teach you how to live in the

world, but not become a part of the world.

And after hearing President Nelson talk to us at conference about this

idea of us choosing to overcome the world and giving us tips on how we

can accomplish that and why it's worth our time, I feel like Daniel's

message is that he basically teaches you how to be yourself in a world full.

Other opinions and people pressuring you to assimilate and all kinds of things.

He also teaches you how to do it with dignity and grace and compassion.

He's, he's not brash and in your face.

In fact, he really reminded me of Joseph in Egypt.

So if you loved reading Joseph's story and how he found ways to be

successful, no matter if he was in Potter, her's house or in a prison, or.

Next to Pharaoh.

Daniel has that same kind of feel.

He'll serve several kings in Babylon.

In fact, I don't know that we, as far as I can tell, he never gets back to Jerusalem.

He will spend his whole life serving various kings who are in powered

there, and he does incredible work.

In fact, one of my favorite lines from President Nelson's talk is that he

talks about how this quest to overcome the world is a lifetime challenge.

And that's what you get to read this week.

You guys we're gonna see Daniel's lifetime pass before our eyes,

and you'll see how he chooses to overcome the world at every turn.

Not just Daniel, but his friends as well.

And it is so good.

So I promise you're gonna love it.

Grab your scriptures, grab your notes, and let's get.

In pretty much every chapter of the six that we're reading this week, there

is an experiment upon the word, you know, like Alma taught us back in Alma

32, that if you plant a good seed, you yield good fruit, and if you plant a bad

seed, it won't, and you can cast it out.

And each chapter hits this a little bit differently.

Chapter one is focused on these boys being brought up in the court of the.

Basically they have three years to be raised and taught in the court, and

then they'll be eventually presented before the king, and in that interim,

they're supposed to assimilate.

You're gonna see that in the verses.

So if you're looking four, you see these were children of no blemish

that are well favored and skillful, and that they might teach them.

This is the end of verse four.

They might teach the learning and the tongue of the caldeans.

The goal here is that these kids, Become Babylonians, basically, that they'll learn

the traditions, they'll learn the ways.

I think a piece of that will be because they want the other Jews

to see these nobles assimilate and then be easier to manage.

I think there's something about if you can get the elite to, you know, to

join your ways, then things are easier.

So one of the first things that happens is in verse seven it says that they're

given new, So they're changed from their Hebrew names to these Babylonian names.

Interestingly, Daniel's name stays Daniel, that's his Hebrew name, and

that's how we'll know him the whole time throughout these chapters.

But Shadrach, Meshek, and Abednego are their Babylonian names, and somehow

we, we know those women instead, So, But it was the idea of changing their

names That actually jumped out at me.

I think the reason is because of that single adult fire side that I told you

guys about the, I guess, young adult fire side where President Nelson talked

to those young adults and he said, Don't let any label of the world supersede the

three most important labels, and that is your child of God, a child of the

covenant, and a disciple of Jesus Christ.

And that's, I think, what they're trying to do here subtly by

giving them Babylonian names.

Helping them forget or maybe hoping that they'll forget who they are and

whose they are, and it's just this slow process of hoping to change them.

What's so cool about these boys is they don't change, but they seem to know

when to push boundaries and when to not.

They don't seem to resist having their names changed, but they do

resist the diet that comes their way.

So if you go a couple versus down, you see that they're basically invited.

Encouraged to eat the King's meat and drink the King's wine.

But I love how it's phrased.

In verse eight, it says, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he

would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor

with the wine in which he drank.

Therefore, he requested of the Prince of the Unix that he might not defile himself.

He didn't make a big stand.

He didn't, you know, tip the plates over and throw everything on the floor.

He seems to show respect and temperance.

And asked to abstain.

I really think there is a key in this.

For us specifically, you have to learn or you have to remember that how old

these kids are, if they're in their, you know, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 range,

for them to be able to withhold from the king's meet is pretty impressive.

You know, we're at that time where your kids probably have a whole

stash of Halloween candy that they.

Poured through and they've eaten pounds more than they should have.

That's the same age that Daniel and his friends are, and they have

been taught well enough or feel the spirit about this strongly

enough that they choose to abstain.

And I think that's pretty remarkable.

But I love the way they go about it.

There is a, there is a patience in their approach that I think is pretty remark.

And you learn how it works for them.

In the next verse, so when you go into nine, it says, Now, God had

brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the Unix,

so the man who's in charge of them.

Kind of like the situation we saw with Esther where she won the hearts of other

people at court and therefore was trusted.

That's what's happening with Daniel.

Same thing we saw happen with Joseph.

What I love about this is I feel like this is the promise that if you

choose to honor God first, if you choose to love God, he will teach you

how to love others, how to love your fellow men, how to love your neighbor.

He will also help those fellow men and neighbors love you

and see the goodness in you.

That I think, is a remarkable promise, and you see it fulfilled in Daniel.

It goes a little further and you see this test, right?

The one that you've read about all your life.

This is where they basically come to.

That guy who's over them and they say, Give us 10 days.

We just want to eat the foods that are.

It doesn't specifically say that those foods, the wine and the meat

are outside of the law of Moses.

In fact, we know that within the love of Moses, you can eat

meat and you can drink wine.

So this is kind of an odd, We don't know exactly.

It's possible that these things, the specific meats they were referencing

are against that, that law.

But it's also possible that they just wanted to be distinct and different, that

they were seeking a way to say to each other and maybe to those around them.

We are still set apart.

We're gonna live in Babylon, but we're gonna be ourselves.

I think this is what, what they're trying to teach with the

strength of the youth lately.

Now, the idea is that you're going to create boundaries, not because

there is a checklist for you to follow, but because you've made a

covenant with God that you will be.

Distinct and different in happy ways.

You will stand out when the time is right and I feel like that

might be what's happening here.

It may not be against their code, it might just be a choice they make.

There's a great story in the notes.

If you go in, I think it was.

Oh, I can't remember who said it.

It's in the notes, but it's one of the apostles.

And he talked about how he ran into problems in business meetings because

they would have these cocktail hours.

So for a lot of times he wouldn't go.

And then his boss said, No, you're missing key business opportunities.

You need to go to the cocktail hours.

Just don't drink the alcohol.

And so he chose to instead go and drink the Sprite.

But he said it looked so much like the other alcoholic beverages that he felt

like he was sending the wrong signal.

He went and spoke to the bartender and got a glass of milk and , and

he was very distinct and different.

And he talked how at first he got a lot of jarring and was kind of teased.

And then over the course of time, because he was distinct and different,

he made business relationships that would've passed him by if

he just blended into the crowd.

That's what you're gonna see with Daniel, where his uniqueness and his choice to.

Have integrity blesses him and blesses others around him.

It's so good you guys, so watch for it.

As you study this week, basically what happens is at the 10 they,

they ask to put this to the test.

They say, Let us eat our own food for 10 days, and then just

look at our counts and see.

And at the end of 10 days, their accountance was fair and they were fatter.

You know, I don't think it means physically fatter, but they

looked healthier than the others.

What I thought was really powerful is that's what the world can see.

That's what this prince of the Unix can see.

It'll be what the king can see, their countenance, their overall physical look.

What they can't see is what, what they were blessed with also.

That's in verse 17.

As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all

learning and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and.

That's the blessing of keeping the standards of God.

It's not just about our health.

It's not just about how we look on the outside, those standards and for

the strength of the youth and the word of wisdom and all those physical

commandments that we, we think about.

They don't just yield physical blessings.

They, They yield deeper spiritual gifts that we will need.

Daniel will interpret dreams that will save people's lives.

Their ability to learn fast will help them stand out.

Above all the other kids in this program, they are blessed with the

skills they need to accomplish the work God has for them, and they needed to.

Step up to a standard in order to accomplish that.

I just think sometimes we teach this like a word of wisdom story and it is,

but it's also so much more the same way you can teach for the strength of the

youth and talk about how it helps you be safe and it helps you be healthy.

And you could talk about it like that or you can take it deeper

and say, God will always love you.

He wants to love and bless you, not just physically, but with the gifts and

the talents and the abilities you need to withstand the Babylon you live in.

And the way to get those blessings is to choose this higher standard,

whether the world sets it for you or the church sets it for you, live higher,

and then watch the blessings roll in by the end of this chapter you see.

get to the end of those three years, they stand before the king

and he can see that they are 10 times better than anybody else.

And that sets the stage for what we're gonna see in chapter two.

You're gonna get total Joseph Fis when you read chapter two, because this is

when King Nene has a dream that troubles him and he turns to his wise men to try

and get an interpretation of the dream.

And of course, none of them can do it.

But thankfully, we have someone who lived a higher standard and received the

spiritual gift of interpreting dreams.

And now, That comes into play.

So you see it kind of pulled through in chapter two.

This is when you learn about his dream.

But what's interesting is he doesn't tell you what his dream is, and he

doesn't tell the wise men either.

So he basically puts out a challenge to the wise men in his.

Ruled and says, Not only do I want you to interpret the dream, I want

you to tell me what the dream was.

This is where you wanna watch the footnotes cuz it gets a little confusing.

But essentially what you've learned is that the king remembers

his dream, he knows what it is.

He wants to put his magicians and.

Wiseman and sourcers to the test.

This is another experiment upon the word, but this time it's bad seed.

These magicians don't have the skills.

They don't have the ability or the connection to

revelation to give the dream.

In fact, that's what they say to thinking.

They say in verse 10, There is not a man on the earth that

can show the king this matter.

They are willing to interpret the dream, but they cannot read the king's

mind to know what the dream was.

That's the king putting them to the test and that sea doesn't grow and so

all of a sudden he's skeptical, right?

So he turns to another source.

But there has to be something that happens in the middle.

Basically what happens is he says, If you guys can't interpret dreams,

cuz their answer comes in 11, where they say, Only the gods could read

your mind and tell you what it means.

And the gods don't deal with men of the flesh.

So essentially what they're saying to the king.

We know we're supposed to be your channel to talk to the gods, but the gods

don't actually talk to us, which makes them completely useless to the king.

And you can tell that cuz he sends out a decree in the next verse

that all of them are gonna die.

Now since all of the wise men in this gigantic kingdom are gonna die, Daniel

and his friends are included in that mix.

So when he hears about that happening, he's concern.

But here's what I love about Daniel.

He has temperas, right?

So if you look when the decree goes out in verse 13, in 14, then Daniel answered with

counsel and wisdom to the captain of the kings garden that was gone forth to slay.

So this is, they're about to kill all these wise men and he steps

forth in counsel and wisdom aren't those interesting word choices?

I just feel like that means he probably talked to his friends, he probably

took counsel from those who were similarly minded, who have also have.

That the Lord has given them, and then they respond in wisdom.

The way they respond is to ask more questions.

So I think this is a key way for us to live in Babylon

and not become like Babylon.

We have to.

Not get easily shocked, . We have to show patience, but we also have to act.

And the way he acts is to say, I need more information.

I'm not understanding.

Help me understand why the king feels this way.

So that's what happens in 15.

He wants to know why is the king in such a hurry?

To, you know, execute everyone.

And then he learns what happened.

And so he basically says to the king, Could you give me more time?

Can you gimme some time to think about this?

And then they powwow together.

So in 17, Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to his companions.

So these are those.

three Shara Meach and a Bengo.

They list their Hebrew names in that verse, but he turns to them and

he asks them to counsel together.

It feels like Esther, when she's fasting with her maidens before they, before she

can go into the king, they come together.

I loved studying this concept cuz I think there is not just power in a group prayer

like this, but there is joy in unity and there's a great talk from elder.

All about this in the notes, but this idea that heavenly Father often

creates opportunities for us to be unified so that we can experience

deeper joys together, and that's what you're gonna see with these.

So if you look in 18, they pray for tender mercies, um, of God, and

then within one verse they get it.

Now, I don't know how many hours pass between when they're praying for

these mercies to come and when the answer comes, but the answer comes

to Daniel cuz he's been given the spiritual gift of interpreting dreams.

So it says in 19, then the secret was revealed and to Daniel in a night vision.

So after they've come together, after they've prayed and counseled,

then the answer comes, isn't.

Helpful . I, I think sometimes we think, Oh, he's a prophet and he's

gonna know things automatically.

And I think it takes counsel and it takes time and it takes prayer

and fasting the same way it does for us no matter who they are.

So you see that process play out for Daniel, and then it

says that he, Thanks God.

I love that to get the answer is one verse to thank God for giving

him the answer is like six verses.

He's so grateful for the wisdom and the might.

He continually talks about how it's God's wisdom and God's might

that has been shared with him.

I love how it's phrased in at the end of 22 it says, Well, let

me read the whole of the verse.

He says he reveal with the deep and secret things, he knoweth what is in

darkness and the light dwelleth with him.

I especially love it if you go in the notes, there's a lot of links to the

doctrine covenants where you learn about God being the father of light and how

he wants to give us more and more light, and it grows brighter and brighter.

That's what's happening to Daniel and his friends keeping the standard.

Give them an opportunity to receive more light using it

the way that God wants them to.

Using their spiritual gifts to bless others increases that light.

And that's what you'll see over the course of the chapter.

So he has the interpretation of the dream.

He turns to the guy who's over them and he says, I, I can do this.

Can I get before the king?

What I love is what he says to him in at the end of 24.

He asks, Destroy not the wise men of baby.

Daniel's not just looking out for himself and his friends.

He's gonna save the lives of all those sourcers and magicians and people who have

nothing in common with him who are even working against him in future chapters.

Uh, but he saves their lives anyway.

I, I think he's a type of Christ in a lot of ways, and this is a big one.

Um, so he gets before the king, and the king in 26 says, Are you able, Basically

what you have to love is how Daniel.

Because even though the king said, Can you do this?

What Daniel replies over and over again is, It's not me.

Yes, I can, but it's not me.

So he says, But there is a God in heaven that reveal these

secrets and making them known.

And then in 30, But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom.

It's not that I have any special talents or gifts.

It's revealed through me so that you can know King, what God wants you to know.

And then he interprets the dream.

And this is where you've, you've probably seen the statue that has different kinds

of, They're super expensive metals like gold at the very top, and then it goes

slowly down to different kinds of metals on this great big warrior statue, and

by the time you get to his feet, it's this compilation of clay and iron.

And the prophets have already kinda laid this out in the institute manual.

You can read some quotes, but they talk about how this

is basically seeing history.

In the future, like he's seeing our history laid out ahead of

him in the different reigns.

So this is the Babylonian reign.

And then as you go down to the silver of his arms and his shoulders and

his breast, that's supposed to be the next reign, that will be the Persians.

And you can go in the notes and learn the whole thing.

But he's basically talking about how there will be these great kingdoms

of the world, this, these world powers that will dominate things.

And then slowly that will break down into smaller powers.

And then even.

The Kingdom of God will roll forth.

That's where you learn about the stone.

Oh you guys, I had to do an object.

Listen about this cuz I just love these verses.

It's in 34.

He says That was sauce till that a stone was cut out without

hands, which sm smoked the image.

So this stone comes out of the mountain without any help from men and rolls

forth, and it tumbles into this statue, Breaks it to pieces, not just breaks

it, but like crumbles it to dust, It compares it to like a threshing floor

where all the seeds scatter in the wind.

It's that same idea that it's gonna, it's gonna break it all.

What I thought was really cool is the way he phrases it at the end of 35, it says,

And that no place was found for them, and the stone that smelt the image became a

great mountain and filled the whole earth.

This is a phrase that Joseph Smith teaches in the doctrine covenants

as well, and he talked about how this isn't a stone that's gonna.

Snowball.

It's not that kind of stone.

It's something that will begin in a small radius.

He compares it to like a millstone, I think.

Um, and it's, oh no, it's a, a grinding stone, but it's this circular kind of

donut stone, and he says, It's gonna start small and then as it spins, it's

gonna get wider and wider, and pretty soon it will fill the whole earth.

And I don't think this is just a, you know, kind of military like kingdom.

I think this is the hearts of the people when he describes this stone

rolling forth and covering the kingdom.

It is.

The hearts that are now united.

I mean, think how many different countries have so many different governments, and

yet all of these saints that live in these countries, we all unite under this kingdom

of God, even before the Savior is here.

Right?

We are coming together as a kingdom of God.

Rolling forth.

So that's the image that he teaches, the king.

He tells him that what the dream.

What the dream meant.

And then the king honors him because he can see that he is someone who

has access to the actual living God.

And that's a pretty powerful promise.

So as you can see, if you go in the verses a little bit further as he

interprets it, the king worships, he worships Daniel, he honors him.

It's kind of tricky this week because the king.

Oftentimes will praise God.

And then one chapter later, he is not praising God and he's worshiping other

things and building giant statues.

So you sort of have to keep that in check.

You, you want to believe that this is gonna be one of those Booka Mormon,

King Lamona and King Mona's dad conversion stories, but it's not.

It's a heart that.

Flip flops.

It's almost like this king is the same kind of man who has an opportunity to

give away all his riches and come to know God, and he just never quite gets there.

But you're gonna see him change.

I think it's, it's powerful.

It teaches you about the strength of Daniel and his friends.

That even though this king never fully converts to the gospel of Jesus Christ,

he does change at pivotal moments, and I think that's, that says something about

the missionary work that they're doing.

I don't think we have to have full conversions in order to have our

missionary efforts matter, that this matters significantly, even though

this King's heart never fully changes.

But that'll kind of become more clear as you jump into chapter three.

As a result of Daniel's ability to interpret the dream, all four of them

are promoted to positions of power, not necessarily in the greater kingdom,

but at least over all those wise men and sourcers and advisors to the king.

And this is really big province.

In the notes, I give you a link to a map so you can see

how big Babylon's Empire is.

So it's a, it's an important position of power and that creates, Really quickly

in those, especially those other wise men and counselors, they want to get

these Jews out and they can't find any fault in them personally, much like

you see with the scribes and Pharisees trying to deal with the savior.

So they try and get at them via religion.

And chapter three is a really famous story about that.

This is where they're, they make a gigantic statue.

So King Ezer makes a huge, I mean, we're talking 90 feet tall, nine feet

thick, huge, at least gold plated.

Statue and they set up this plan that there's gonna be music

that plays and everybody's gonna need to bow down and worship.

And this creates a similar problem to what we saw in chapter one, where

they've made covenants with God that they will only worship one God.

And so they choose not to bow down.

And that's where the trap happens, because the consequence is you're gonna get thrown

in a fiery furnace if you don't bow down.

And interestingly, everybody's gather.

So all the kings are all the kings, like, you know, second in command guys and

all the members of the rural household.

And everybody is there.

They've all been gathered and there's this social pressure to bow.

And what's interesting is how these three get singled out.

Basically, those who are envious of their positions say to the king, Hey, did you.

Who didn't bow?

It's these certain Jews.

So if you look in verse 12, it says, There are certain Jews whom now has set over

the affairs of the province of Babylon.

They give their names and then they say, Oh, King, they have not regarded

the, they serve, not they gods.

They're trying to call attention to their distinct and differentness

and get them in trouble.

So they get thrown in the furnace.

And it's really fascinating to me that they call them certain j.

Because I guess I wonder if maybe there are lots of other Jews who did bow

just because of all the social pressure and they don't wanna cause waves and

they don't wanna, you know, they just wanna let things roll and I think

there's a lot of pressure for us today.

in that same same vein where I feel like not just in social media but in the world

at large where I'm supposed to bow or just kind of take on, I'm supposed to

assimilate into the world and just take on their viewpoints on family and marriage

and lots of areas where I feel like I'm being pushed to believe certain things,

or at least to vocalize certain things.

And that's why I love this phrase.

There are certain Jews who aren't, cuz no matter how many of their own

faith choose to bow down these certain.

Choose not to.

They choose to love God first, even at their own peril,

and that's inspiring to me.

I think it's what the prophets are asking us to do in all their

talks lately, they're asking you to first of all be certain.

Do you remember that talk?

I can't.

Is it Linda Burton?

That one about certain women in the New Testament.

I feel like you can apply those same principles here, that

this isn't just certain Jews, meaning there are certain ones.

I think you can also.

To mean they are certain they have, They have become centered in who they are and

what they know, and they can then stand.

In fact, I think if we want our kids to be able to stand like these

three, they need to have a sense of certainty about their testimony.

It's why President Nelson in the last conference invited us to take hold of

our testimony to take ownership of it.

That's powerful, the doctrine because it allows you to be certain in these key.

It's a great talk from, It's a BYU devotional from President Worthen

where he talks about holy places.

And he says, he talks about that scripture that says, you know, stand

in holy places and be not moved.

And then when you choose in moments like this to stand for God, you make

the space, you are in holy ground.

So you make holy places.

We often think of holy places as like, you know, being in the temple

or being maybe in our home or.

But you can make any place a holy place if you choose to stand for

what God would want you to do.

So that's what they're making this pocket of a holy place.

And remember, there are tons and tons of people and leadership who

are watching their every move.

You see this with our general authorities all the time.

They're in a spot where they.

Are gonna get all kinds of pressure to assimilate and be like others.

And they choose to make the ground, they stand holy.

And you'll see how this plays out as you go to the next page.

So basically the king comes to them, cause now he's alerted to these three

guys who aren't bowing down and he doesn't immediately throw them into the furnace.

He gives them another chance, which tells you if probably a little

bit about the relationship that the king may not want to lose.

These very integrity, rich, good leaders, . So he gives him another chance and says,

Do you realize what the consequences are?

And then they do this fascinating thing first in 16.

They say, Oh, Neba, Canne.

We are not careful to answer the in this matter, meaning I'm not gonna be

delicate with your feelings right now.

I'm not worried about saying the wrong thing.

I'm gonna tell you exactly what I believe.

Isn't that remarkable?

I think sometimes when I try to stand up for what I believe, I hedge

a little and I try to like gauge their responses and cushion my words.

And what they're saying is in these pivotal moments where you can

create a holy space, you just speak.

In fact, the doctor in Covenants teaches that you'll be given the words you

need in those moments if you choose to speak what God wants you to say.

So that's what they say.

We're not gonna be careful with our words.

Let me tell you what we believe.

And then 17 and 18 are what they.

What they say is, if it be so, our God will deliver us.

If we are gonna get cast into that furnace, our God can deliver us.

He doesn't say they, He will deliver them.

He says they, He can deliver them.

That's really important because he says if he chooses to, he will deliver

us out of eye handing and then 18.

But if not, be it known unto the O King that we will not serve by Gods that.

An incredible statement of faith that no matter what comes, whether they're in an

OB Ben I type moment where they are in the heat and the flames and they, their

life is over, they will stand with God.

They know he can deliver and they also know that sometimes God chooses

not to and that his purposes and his.

Are so much grander than we can picture, and so we just trust.

In fact, there's some incredible quotes in the notes about this, but I really

love how this ties into elder bed.

Ours talk about choosing not to be healed.

Do you have the faith to be healed and the faith not to be healed?

If you haven't read that talk lately, it's so good you guys.

It helped me in some really pivotal moments with Jason's

disease, and I feel like that's what they're inviting us to do.

It's this invitation to.

Your integrity and say, No matter how the chips fall, this is where I stand.

Um, and it doesn't go well for them.

And we'll see that as we go into the next half of this chapter.

I think what's most powerful about their decision to say clearly to the king.

He can deliver us, but if not, is that they've taken all power

and fear out of the situation.

They've left everything up to God, which makes the king not be

able to wield power over them.

The king's power comes in them being afraid of death.

If they're not afraid of death, then.

What, what do I have to worry about?

What the king thinks or what the king will do?

So the king feels that lack of power, and he's not happy about it.

So he has them increase the temperature of the furnace.

It says seven times, which usually in the Old Testament means perfect or full.

So this is like cranking the furnace up to full capacity.

Um, It's so hot that the people who carry these bound men up to

the furnace die in the process.

But I think it's really powerful to see what happens next.

So the death of those men come in 22, and then in 23 it says, And

these three men, Shadrach, Meek, and a Bendigo fell down, bound into the

midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Midst means middle.

It doesn't just mean in the area of.

In my mind when I read this verse, I don't think this is them kind of

tumbling in because the other guys died.

I think this is, they walked in and then they knelt down.

So many times in scripture we read about people falling down in prayer

and adoration, and I could be wrong.

This is just my opinion, but it also, it reminded me so much of

that verse in the Book of Mormon, when the ne fights are about to

fight the Lamanites and they're so.

Outnumbered, uh, that when they get to that frontline, they bow and the lamanites

are charging forward, thinking that they're gonna be weak and submissive.

And you know, they see them bow down and think, Oh good, the battle's almost over.

And then right as the Lamanites get close, they rise and battle

and like fight like lions.

That's, that's what this reminds me of.

This is they kneel and.

Are loose.

It's so cool.

So if you go further in the verses, the king sees them in there and he

says, Didn't we cast three people in?

And his servant says, Yes.

We cast three people in.

And then in 25 he answered and said, Low, I see four men loose walking in the

midst of the fire and they have no hurt.

And the form of the fourth is like the son of God.

That's a king speaking.

He sees four men in the fire.

It doesn't just see four men.

He sees them walking around loose.

Oh, you guys.

This image is so powerful in my mind because oftentimes I think in our

hottest fires of affliction, God creates a way for us to walk around loose.

I only know this from my own personal experience, and you'll have your own,

but in some of the most intense, hard times during our cancer battles, It

sure seems like we should be crumbling.

In fact, people will often come to us and say, You don't always

have to put on a good face.

You don't always have to be smiley.

You know, And we're not always for sure, but there are times when I know we should

be crumbling based on the outside fire that is around us, and yet we feel like

we're walking around loose, that there is someone with us carrying us to make

the burdens weren't carrying lighter.

I don't know how to explain it.

I can.

I can't help others who see me understand it.

I just feel it and I just get to testify of it, that there will be times in your

hottest fires when you kneel down and you pray for guidance and you pray for help.

And he will find a way not to take you out of the fire, but to find a

way to help you walk around loose.

And generally, I think it comes because there are ministering angels who.

Lift us people that we don't even see.

I sometimes wonder how much they understood or saw within the fire that,

that the king could see from the outside.

But when they emerge, cuz he calls them out.

When they emerge, they say that there was an angel that came

because that's what happens in 28.

He says he has sent his angel and delivered his

servants that trusted in him.

I love the phrase you see in 28.

This is the King speaking and he says they have changed the king's word and yielded

their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God except their own God.

That phrase they yielded their bodies, I think is what for the strength

of youth and the word of wisdom and even our covenants that we make in

the temple is when we yield over the natural man and all those tendencies.

We gain power, we gain strength beyond physical, beyond mortal strength even.

And King, who's an outsider, can see that coming to be.

So he makes a decree and yet again, he, you know, praises their God.

He doesn't.

Fully convert, but he praises their God and makes way for them to not be

afraid because he puts out a decree that says there's no other God can deliver,

that can deliver people like this.

God did and then he promotes Shadrach, Mick, and the Bengo.

And that's gonna be important for what comes next in chapter four.

We have another dream that pops up in chapter four.

This is a different one.

So Nene again has a dream and again, seeks for interpretation of the dream.

This is a dream about a great big tree, a healthy thriving tree that

produces fruit and then gets chopped down by some angelic type of creature.

And the it gets.

Decimated, right?

The fruit gets scattered, everything gets broken down, and

then the root structure is left.

And there's a curse of madness that is kind of hinted at in the dream,

and he doesn't know what it means.

So of course, he turns to every other source the same way he did before.

Remember, this is the king who never quite commits to this God.

Uh, it it reminded me a little bit of elder Holland's talk from last

October where he said like, There's no halfway mes in the gospel.

You can't be halfway in.

You have to be all in.

And this king never quite gets there, but.

At the very last resort turns to Daniel.

And it's interesting to me cuz Daniel's the one who figured out

his dream the first time really clearly, and he promoted him for it.

So it makes you wonder why he wouldn't turn to him first.

And then I had this humbling moment from the spirit where , there's

been lots of times when I receive an answer to a prayer.

, you know, by going into my personal scripture study, my family scripture

study, going to the temple, and then I don't always turn to those sources

when I need help with something.

I sometimes will turn to friends or social media or all kinds of things, and I just

was like reprimanded a little like, Oh, you're not too far off this situation.

So I.

At least for me, oftentimes when I am in this spot where I'm seeking

advice from any other source except God, it's because I know what God's

answer is gonna be and I don't want it

And I think that might be what happens with the king.

I think he knows from the previous proxy that his kingdom

is eventually gonna topple and get picked up by inferior forces.

And you know, someone else is gonna rule his.

And I think he probably knows that's what's coming,

so he doesn't wanna hear it.

And, but just like everything else, eventually we need to hear

what the Lord wants us to know.

And so Daniel does interpret the dream, but he's troubled by it cuz he

doesn't want to say this to the king.

I mean, it says he takes about an hour.

This is around verse 19 where he.

He doesn't wanna give the interpretation of the dream, cuz

honestly you guys, it's not good news.

And the king just threw his friends in a fire for a smaller thing.

So you could see where they would be careful.

Remember Daniel is careful and he, he's never, he never compromises

his integrity, but he is very thoughtful about his choices.

And I just think there was so much for me to learn from this.

If you're gonna live in the world and not become like the world you have, Careful.

You have to be temperate.

You have to seek guidance from the Lord at every single step,

and that's what he's doing.

Eventually, the prompting is that he's supposed to tell the king exactly

what the dream means, and so he does.

He basically says to the king, This is gonna happen.

Your kingdom's gonna get overrun.

You are going to have a curse of madness that will come over you.

You're gonna end up being in the fields and eating the same

way animals do like it's a.

Severe curse, like he's gonna lose his mind a little bit and they're gonna

cast him out of the kingdom for a time.

And all of this is gonna come to be, but interestingly,

there's a delay that happens.

I love what you see in first 27.

So after Daniel starts to tell him about what this prophecy or this dream

means, he says, Where for king, let my council be acceptable unto the, and break

off thy sins by righteousness and thy iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.

If it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility, I don't think.

What the king is going to do is going to change the fate of this prophecy.

This prophecy will be fulfilled.

What he can do is change how it impacts him.

Daniel's inviting him to change his future.

So he's saying, Oh, king, shake off the chains by which you're bound.

You can't save your kingdom, but you yourself can be saved if

you will take care of the poor, if you will cast off your sins.

Don't you love that invitation that the prophets, even in these moments where

they have this mighty prophecy about the fate of nations, they still go

back to, How can I minister to the one?

If I just could take care of this person in this room, what should I say?

And the spirit says, Tell him to shake off his sins.

Tell him to take care of the poor, and he can have a chance

to not have these consequences.

But it sure doesn't sound like the king takes it cuz 12 months pass

without any of these consequences.

And he gets pretty comfortable.

So in 30 you see that he says, Is this not the great Babylon

that I have built for the king?

Like he, he's kind of patting himself on the back to say, I,

this is a pretty impressive city.

And if you go in Wikipedia and look up Babylon, like it is an impressive city.

It's actually gorgeous what we, what we've discovered.

So, Incredible what was built, and he's feeling pretty good.

And then he hears a voice fall from heaven that says this is in

31, The kingdom is departed from.

It's interesting because the kingdom hasn't fallen yet.

In fact, he'll get his kingdom back first season even after this verse.

But his choice to ignore the prophet to not depart from his

sins, to not take care of the poor, means his kingdom is departed.

It's tempting to think that that is the kingdom of Babylon.

But sometimes I wonder if this is in an eternal kingdom, cuz ne Canez is still

gonna rule later on in these verses.

He'll, he'll have his thrown back after this period of madness.

So maybe this is a, a bigger warning that his chances for repentance are.

Our waning and his kingdom is departing from him.

It just had this kind of hunting sound when I read it.

Um, so you see this dissent into madness.

The curse is fulfilled, He struggles, and then eventually

he gets back on the throne.

He sees that Daniel's prophecy about the dream has come to pass.

And so again, he praises this God of Daniel and says, you

know, take care of these people because their God is a true God.

It just doesn't.

You should know when you go into chapter five that you've

jumped a couple of generations.

So Nene's Reign is over and now a couple generations later, you have

this new King Bill Shaar and they'll call Neese are his father, but

really that just means ancestors.

So they think there's two, I think generations between them.

Um, and this one sounds a little younger and more.

Arrogant.

He's having a party in front of thousands and he drinks the wine and

says, Okay, I want those holy vessels.

Remember those sacred things that way?

Back in the book of numbers, we learned that if somebody touched

the holy, sacred things without authorization, they died on the spot.

remember the studying of the arc?

So this is a similar situation where he's basically daring God.

To punish him.

It almost reminded me of Indiana Jones and like the Lost Ark.

You know, there there's a cockiness and an arrogance, Andre, and I think

that's all coming to the surface here because he, with all of his friends,

they drink wine from these sacred objects and they don't just drink wine.

They also worship idols in the process.

So it just seems like.

A really bold upfront to what these objects are intended to

do, and this king will die.

But like by the end of the chapter , it doesn't happen

immediately like the studying of the arc, but it absolutely happens.

And I think that's a really good thing to understand upfront.

So while he's in his merriment, he sees a hand right on the.

And it's this encoded message.

It's an arama, but nobody knows what it means.

And so his countenance changes.

I thought this was fascinating.

So in verse six it says, Then the king's countenance was changed and

his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his loins were loose and

his knees smoked one against another.

Something about seeing this hand right on a wall.

I don't know if this is a divine hand.

Some of the footnotes linked to like ether, the brother

Jared, seeing the hand of God.

So possibly, um, but he in his wicked state who is doing so.

Horrifically against God, uh, sees the hand of God, but in an ominous way.

Remember how we've studied this over and over again in the Old Testament, how

the God of the Old Testament is a God of mercy and kindness and compassion, but he

also will be a God of justice, and this is a time when justice is called for.

So he writes this message on the wall and nobody can.

and then the queen remembers that there is this guy named

Daniel who happens to be wise.

In fact, I love her word choice.

In 12, she says he is dissolving of doubts.

Not only is he wi has wisdom, and he has an excellent spirit and

all these other kind of things.

I love the phrase and dissolving of doubts.

I feel like you could say that about our prophets and apostles,

that they are men who are able to dissolve my doubt, even if they don't

answer my questions specifically.

There's steadiness in.

Calms my heart, . Cause I still have questions that I'm wrestling with

and things I'm trying to understand better and layers of revelation

that haven't fully unfolded yet.

But when I listen to the prophets and apostles speak and the women leaders

of the church, I feel my adult, my doubts dissolve and my faith swell.

So I love that, that you feel that with Daniel as.

So the king comes to him and says, in 14, I've have even heard of the,

that the spirit of the gods is in the, Remember he's old, Daniel's older now.

That light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in the,

He gives him all these praises.

It's interesting to me that knowing the guy like this is

in the kingdom, he's never.

Talk to him before.

He doesn't know of him specifically.

Um, and so he promises him gifts just like he would any anyone

else who can interpret the dream.

But I love Daniel's response in 17.

He says, Let that gifts be to thyself and give thy rewards to another.

I will interpret the dream.

It.

It's a lot like we saw with Elisha and Naman.

Remember Naman wanted to give him all these gifts for healing

of the leprosy, and Elisha says, I, I don't need that from you.

I think that tells you a lot about the character of Daniel.

I also think it tells you that he knows what this dream means.

This dream what?

What you'll see as you watch the rest of the dream play out, or this,

I'm sorry, the writing on the wall.

When he interprets the writing on the wall, it basically, Your kingdom is over.

In fact, by the next day it's over.

And so gifts and lavish things from this king won't matter much . But anyway, it's

kinda interesting to see how it plays out.

So if you go into 20, he reminds him that Nevo Canez or his ancestor.

Also got in this spot where his pride caused his downfall.

So he wants him to know, even though he is gonna get destroyed here really quick,

he wants everyone in the room to know that it's the pride that got in the way.

And he reminds him how that all happens.

And then he talks in 23.

That he was basically daring.

God, in this moment, thou has lifted up thyself against the Lord of

heaven, and they have brought the vessels of this house before the you

committed a sin, you knew was a sin.

Remember, we talked about the difference between weakness

and rebellion, weakness as.

Almost always extended.

Mercy Rebellion is different, and this is rebellion.

So then you have to love what the wall phrase means.

So if you look in 25, you can see the actual words that are written on the wall,

and then he tells 'em what they mean.

And it means God had numbered the kingdom and finished it in 27.

Thou art weighed in the balances and Thou Art found wanting.

There's this great movie, it's called The Knights Tale, that Jason and I used to

watch early in our marriage, and they used this phrase, I had no idea this phrase was

in scripture until this week where they say you've been weighed and you've been

measured, and you've been found wanting.

It's the there.

There are some incredible quotes in the notes about this.

Even Joseph Smith himself talks about there will be a time he knows people

won't believe him and he wouldn't believe himself either if he were

somebody else, but he says, , at some point I will be weighed and measured

and you will know and I will know.

Like it's this certainty.

He has a certainty about who he is, and this king will not.

In fact, if you flip phage, you can see that within one night that he

gives Daniel the gifts and then in one night his kingdom is overthrown

and the Persian start coming in.

Remember I told you Daniel's a lot like Joseph and Egypt because Joseph,

no matter where he was put, whether it was, you know, in a prison or

in Podifer house or by the Pharaoh, he rises to a position of power

because of the character that he has.

And that's what happens to Daniel as well, even though now

he's probably in his eighties.

He's in a position of power.

He, the, the area of Persia is divided into these three zones,

and he's one of the presidents, in fact, he's the chief president.

I don't think, at least from the institute manual, it made it sound

like, again, this isn't a civic responsibility as much as it is.

He's over all of those wise men and all the religious leaders of the areas.

But this is a big.

A big job and the people who are under him want him out, just like we saw

with his friends a few chapters ago.

So they set up a trap and they, they know they can't catch Daniel in

anything he's actually done wrong.

It kind of sounds like what we talked about with the savior again, where it

says at the end of four that there was no error found in him, no fault found in him.

And they realized that in vibe, except we find it against him

concerning the law of his God.

So these other wise men who are envious of Daniel's power, If we can

create a situation where Daniel has to choose between his God and the king.

We know Daniel will choose God.

I think this tells you a lot about how Daniel must have lived his life

around them, that they know exactly where he's gonna stand, and so they

can actually set up a trap based on that plan, and that's what they do.

They set out a decree that the king signs that says, if anyone basically

prays to other gods in these 30 days, then they're gonna get thrown into

a lions den and the king signs it.

What I think is really cool is what you see.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his

house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem.

He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks

before his God as he did a fourth time.

I love that that verse ends with that phrase, because what it tells you is this

isn't a big defiant moment for Daniel.

He knows the degree has been signed.

He knows what the king.

Threatened, uh, what these other guys are up to, and he's just

gonna do what he's always said.

He al has, he's the same kid he was when he was nine or 10, and just coming to

the court of the king, he's gonna stand.

For what he believes.

And I love the simplicity of it.

There's a great talk from Elgon about holy habits and this idea of almost

creating a spiritual muscle memory.

You know, if you've ever done sports and you do so many drills that I remember

doing volleyball, serving drills forever, , and it's critical cuz when you get into

a game, That muscle memory kick kicks in and you can serve without being afraid.

That's basically what Daniel's doing right now.

He says, I've always prayed three times a day.

There's a lot of scriptures that tell you why he does it this way, but if you

go on the notes, you can learn those.

But he, this is his holy habit and he's gonna continue no

matter what the consequences are.

And it, it devastates the king a little bit.

It tells you they have a good relationship.

Cuz in 14 when the king realizes that Daniel's gonna need to be thrown,

Lions then because of this decree, he is sorrowing, the king was sore,

displeased with himself and set his heart to deliver Daniel so the king.

Is disappointed, not just in the men who trapped him into this situation,

but in himself because he was someone who should have been more careful.

I think all of us have been in this spot where we maybe lost sight

of our stewardship for a time, or we didn't perform in a calling

quite like we knew we could have.

And then you have these moments where you see the consequences of that lack of.

Kinda slip through your fingers and it's too late and that's,

that's where the king is.

But I love what the king does.

Remember I told you there's lots of experiment upon the

words moments in these chapters.

There's another one in six cuz you see this king.

Who doesn't have a full testimony of the God of the Old Testament.

You know that he doesn't know Daniel's God intimately, but he knows Daniel

and he knows Daniel serves this God.

And so he has a little bit of hope.

So he takes Daniel to the lions den.

They have to cast him in, and the king basically says in 16, Thy God, whom now

serviced continually, he will deliver the.

I don't think the king knows this for certain, cuz we know the next

morning he comes worried, but he hopes.

There's a great quote in the notes, I think from, uh, there's a BYU devotional

where they talk about how we tend to read that, that verse from the Book

of Mormon that says, if you can know more, but desire to believe that that's,

we say it almost like that's a last resort, but that we should see that as.

Enough that sometimes just a desire to believe is enough to create miracles.

And that's what happens here.

He desires to believe, he seals the den with his C so that you

know, they can tell that it's been sealed and Daniel is stuck in there.

And then he goes home and he passes the whole night fasting and praying.

He doesn't want any entertainment.

He, there's no sleep that comes to him.

And I love this piece cuz he just has a beginning.

It's just a fledgling hope, a small desire that this God who Daniel has spoken of,

who he's watched Daniel serve, can do what Daniel has promised he could do.

And so he hopes and then he rushes to this den the next morning, opens it up, and

then with a lamentable voice calls out.

So that's in 20.

I think that's important because that means the king didn't fully

expect this miracle to play out.

He's just done everything he know.

To do.

He stayed up all night.

He fasted, he prayed.

He told Daniel that he hopes it will work and he's done everything he can do.

And then he comes with this sorrow in his voice saying, Daniel, are you there?

Did your God save you?

And Daniel answers, and we have to love about Daniel is just like he

did when he was a young teenager.

He doesn't take any credit on his own or.

How he pulled something off.

He says, My God has sent his angel and has shut the lion's mouths.

That's in verse 22.

They have not hurt me for as much as before him.

My in icy was found in me.

He didn't claim any credit for this victory.

He just knows he was innocent before God and therefore was saved in this moment.

And the king rejoices, he's exceedingly glad.

That's what 23 says, and then he begins to believe, I think this is what you see.

President Nelson's invitation to move mountains with our faith.

That's what's happening here.

Again, I don't think King DiUS ever fully converts, but think of the

power of this missionary moment when.

So many people get to witness this miracle happen, and they know

that it's because of his belief.

In fact, that's what you see in 23.

He was not hurt.

There was no hurt found upon him because he believed in his God.

I love that piece of his story.

Even though the king doesn't necessarily fully take on Daniel's

God as his own, he says because he believed in his God he was saved.

That's I think why we have to stand in holy places and be not moved

because those around us, even those who believe in other things, will see.

Those moments and will say, There must be something to the God they worship.

I think I wanna know more.

It's this invitation to come and to ask and to find out more for themselves.

And then he gives these promises.

In 25, 26 and 27, he talks about peace be multiplied unto you.

He, He talks about Daniel's God that you, you should fear and tremble before

Daniel's God because he is a living God.

He's steadfast forever in his kingdom and his dominion will never have an end.

That's a pretty powerful thing to say from a king of a place like Persia.

I mean, that's a world dominating king, and he's talking about

Daniel's God who will have dominion forever that will never go.

What I love is the way he defines a living.

God is a God who deliver.

Rescue with and worketh signs and wonders on heaven and in earth.

That's a pretty succinct way to define a living God.

I think what you see in all Daniel's life is a living God is

someone who gives you temperance in moments when you need patience.

He gives you words to say when you need to know how to say them.

Well, he gives you moments.

You can walk loose in a fire, even though he won't pull you out of it.

You have moments where you can walk loose and have.

People on your right hand and on your left right?

That's a living God.

He's someone who gives you power to create holy spaces, even

in really hard circumstances.

And I think it's someone who gives you power to overcome the

world cuz he overcame the world.

When you go all the way back to President Nelson's challenge from his October

talk, that's what he's inviting us to do, to use our lives to figure out

how to overcome this world, how to live in Babylon and not be part of it.

And Daniel's life is just this beautiful template.

So I hope you enjoy studying him.

This is, this will take you all the way through the end of this week's study.